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AVC Ultra and the HPX600: The Future of Panasonic
The AVC Ultra codec is Panasonic’s pinnacle release of 2012, and this fall their first camera intended for that codec upgrade will be released. The Panasonic HPX600 is a 2/3”chip, shoulder mounted upgrade to the Panasonic HPX500. The HPX600 can be used with any standard bayonet lens, and has a camera body that weighs only 6.6 pounds. But again, the highlight of the Panasonic HPX600 is the AVC Ultra future upgrade. In addition to recording with the AVC Ultra codec, the Panasonic HPX600 will be able to shoot in AVC Intra, DVCPROHD, DVCPRO50, and DVCPRO codecs. Along the AVC Ultra upgrade the Panasonic HPX600 will offer wireless metadata from the camera, proxy recording, and another upgrade for variable frame rates.
Panasonic developed the AVC Ultra codec for its versatility and the HPX600 is a good vehicle for this. It has both the potential to shoot 4K resolution as well as shooting full 1080HD at 25mbps. Shooting at a low megabit per second allows the file size to remain small for those in need of quick turnaround. Therefore HPX600 presents a good solution for both the high-end commercial production and the run and gun ENG shoot. Panasonic also has worked with LiveU for a future upgrade with LiveU’s LU40i. The LU40i is a portable uplink for your video files designed for mobile video. The Panasonic HPX600 is set to deliver on many of Panasonic wireless and flagship upgrades that they intend to be the next wave of video production technology.
The Panasonic HPX600 will start shipping this fall with many of the upgrades available at the beginning of next year. Do you have any thoughts of the new Panasonic HPX600? Has your film crew used this video tech in and around the Chicago area yet? Please share with us!
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